Recently, Yin Li, Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, held separate meetings with Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and Masahiro Kihara, President and CEO of Mizuho Financial Group of Japan.
During the meeting with Ola Källenius, Yin emphasized that China, as the world’s largest automobile market, achieved a new record high last year with both vehicle production and sales exceeding 31 million. The targets for 2025 set during China’s “Two Sessions” include an economic growth rate of approximately 5% and a vigorous commitment to the development of intelligent connected new energy vehicles, presenting significant opportunities for global automakers. Yin noted that over the past year, Beijing’s automotive industry has undergone substantial transformations: significant increases in production and output value, further advancements in electrification, accelerated development of intelligent technologies, and a growing consumer focus on individuality and fashion. He conveyed his sincere hope that Mercedes-Benz Group would deepen its cooperation with Beijing, proactively address uncertainties in the international trade environment, and jointly build a more resilient production and sales system. He encouraged the group to enhance the localization of high-end models in Beijing, accelerate electrification efforts, and further align group strategies with the evolving preferences of Chinese consumers to jointly develop high-quality products that better meet market demands. Yin also called for increased investment in research and development in Beijing, leveraging the city’s rich educational, technological and talent resources, technological edge in artificial intelligence, and the high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone. He also encouraged the group to intensify the R&D of new products and enhance core competitiveness. He advocated for accelerating the localization of the supply chain, initiating early business presence in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and jointly promoting cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
During the meeting with Masahiro Kihara, Yin stated that the Chinese government is committed to pursuing a path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, focusing on the advancement of technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and digital finance. As the capital, Beijing hosts national financial regulatory authorities and headquarters of numerous financial institutions. Currently, the city is promoting the development of the Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector and steadily promoting institutional opening-up in the financial sector. Beijing’s modern industrial system holds significant investment potential, with vigorous development in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles. The city is accelerating the cultivation of future-oriented industries, offering broad investment opportunities for both domestic and international enterprises. Mizuho Financial Group is a globally renowned international financial institution. Yin expressed Beijing’s willingness to strengthen investment cooperation with Mizuho in the field of technological innovation. The focus would be on frontier areas such as artificial intelligence and digital economy, aiming to achieve sustained investment returns through the development of new quality productive forces. Yin also proposed enhancing investment cooperation in green and sustainable development, seizing the opportunities presented by the growth of green finance. In the health and elderly care sector, he emphasized the importance of the silver economy and proposed joint efforts to explore new areas of cooperation centered around the integration of medical care and elderly services. Additionally, he advocated for strengthening investment cooperation in the cultural and tourism consumption sector, with the goal of co-creating more investment growth drivers through the integration of culture, commerce, and tourism.
Ola Källenius expressed the Group’s strong confidence in China’s future development and its unwavering commitment to further increasing investment and actively adapting to new changes in the Chinese automotive market. It aims to deepen and expand cooperation with Beijing, strengthen local technological research and development, expedite the transition towards electrification and intelligence, further advance the localization of components, and introduce more competitive automotive products to the market. Masahiro Kihara stated that the Beijing market holds strategic importance for Mizuho Financial Group. Mizuho is committed to establishing a robust presence in Beijing and continuously deepening investment cooperation in areas such as technological innovation, green finance, healthcare and elderly care, as well as cultural and tourism consumption. The group aims to contribute more to Beijing’s high-quality development by leveraging its strengths to support Chinese enterprises in expanding overseas and providing diversified financial support for their international business endeavors.
Beijing municipal leaders Jin Wei, Zhao Lei, and Sun Shuo attended the meetings respectively.
(Written by Fan Junsheng)
